Does anyone else remember when Mistic used to make flavored sparkling water drinks? They were basically like fizzy Snapple, and man, were they good. Their strawberry kicked some serious ass. I miss it.
Heath, Michigan definately had Mello Yello! Yum, 'member it as a kid!
Anybody out there like Squirt? Kind of like Fresca BUT TOTALLY BETTER!!! Little sweeter and more grapefruity than Fresca.
My fav growing up was FAygo Cream Soda but it was so sweet I could only get down about 1/2 can.
Stewart’s brand (the kind they sell at Cracker BArrell) has a great Orange-Cream. They also have a Key Lime but I’ve never tried it.
My husbands favorite, that he missed desperately when we were down South, was Vernor’s Ginger Ale (aka Detroit River Water). Very good.
Narile, check out your local health food store: I’ve seen sarsparilla and birch beer at our local one, plus a lot of other crazy flavors. My husband loves this Ginger Brew some company makes. Tastes like a piece of ginger root: too much for me!
Carpe Diem!
If you want a real taste treat, go to Las Vegas, to the Coke museum. There you can sample 20 varities of Coke products from around the world, including an interesting flavor from Israel, and a very nasty grapfruit-rind drink. Yuck.
I believe the Coca-Cola drink from Israel is called “Beverly”. If by “interesting” you mean “rank” then I’ll agree with you.
Was anyone else in a test market for Miller’s Clear Beer? I know it was available for a limited time in Richmond in '96. Boy, was that nasty. It went over about as well as a Keith Richards workout tape.
Three years ago, Mr. Rilch and I were in Brandywine, PA, and we tried a coffee flavored Pepsi that was being testmarketed. Decent taste, kind of the way I remember Moxie tasting, and a great mixer for whiskey. We foolishly assumed that, with the whole country going mad for Starbucks, that it would become a staple. Hmph. Should have been testmarketed in Seattle.
If you’re ever in Allentown, PA, definintely check out A-Treat soft drinks. Any flavor, but especially orange, root beer, and cherry. It is the soft drink of Valhalla. When old-timers start reminiscing about nickel soft drinks and drug stores that had fountains, they’re probably talking about stuff that tasted like this.
Remember, I’m pulling for you; we’re all in this together.
—Red Green
If you’re ever here in Eau Claire, WI go to Grizzly’s (a local restaurant) and have their cream soda. I don’t drink pop AT ALL but I love this stuff. The serve it to you in a brown bottle and darned if I can think of the name of it. It’s ambrosia! 
MaryAnn
Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck!
My $0.02 on the soft drinks:
Crystal Pepsi: Yuck. :o Tasted like a combination of creme soda and 7-UP.
Faygo: Still around, and pretty cheap. The flavors are accordingly somewhat half-assed, though. I could never stomache their creme soda. Quite nasty. Their cola is decent, but it tastes like the generic store brands.
Barqs: Love their rootbeer 
Best I’ve tasted.
Vernor’s Ginger Ale: An interesting drink; very bold and sharp kick. It seems like everyone who’s tried it either loves it and thinks it’s the best stuff on earth, or they fear and despise it. There is no middle ground!
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
Squirt… mmm… the greatest thing in the world is to give it to someone who never had it before and watch there reaction when the grapefruit kicks in. True Squirt fiends know other secrets dealing with the stuff, but some of these are best left unsaid.
Speaking of drinks with kick, whats the verdict on mint gingerale? Yea or nay?
I don’t know about Vernor’s. I think there is too much vanilla flavor to it. Which is weird since I would normally take vanilla over chocolate any day. I still think Schwepp’s is the best mass market ginger ale around.
As for colas, is it just my untrained taste buds, or do most generic colas try to imitate Coke? I don’t think I have found a single generic that came close to Pepsi, but have found a few that could compete with Coke.
Last time I looked at the stats, Pepsi was still outselling Coke at the store in the US. Coke was king overall due to overseas sales and fountain distribution.
It is odd that I love Ginger Beer, but dislike Vernors, even though it is closer to Ginger Beer then Schwepps, which I love.
Another Semi-Local (I think, I’ve only seen it around here in San Jose) company is Jones Sodas, They have a great Vanilla Coke, A decent root beer, and a Wild Apple Soda that is delish. My biggest problem with Jones’ is that they only seem to sell individual bottles.
>>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?<<
—The dragon observes
Oh man Narile, your post reminded me of something…
Anyone else remember when Slice came in 4 or 5 flavors? There was regular (lemon-lime), orange, apple (I LOVED this stuff), cranberry or cherry, and one other one I can’t remember.
“There is such a fine line between stupid and clever.” – David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
I’ve only seen vanilla Coke here as a fountain drink at 1950’s retro-diners, but, boy, is it wonderful! I’d love to be able to find it in a bottle somewhere. Send me some, please?
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
Makphisto said
Las Vegas??? There’s definitely one in Atlanta that matches your description (except of course for the location). Are you sure you’re remembering correctly? I’ve never even seen a Coke museum advertised in Las Vegas.
Speaking of those soft drinks from around the world, it’s amazing how what tastes good and what tastes bad is largely determined by culture. I’m reminded of that “flora” beverage from Japan (among other nasty flavors). YECCHHH!!!
The original Coke museum is in Atlanta. I believe they’ve recently opened one in Vegas as well.
I think Vernors has changed their flavor; my son recently talked me into buying a small bottle of it so that he could taste it. I tried it also and to my surprise it wasn’t bad. The last time I had had it was 1985, and I remember it being truly rank; sort of like a mixture of ginger ale and fermented cabbage juice.
Barq’s also seems to have changed: I’ve heard that they were bought out by Coke. It used to be the second nastiest non-“store brand” root beer I’d ever tasted (nastiest, hands down: Barrelhead), but now it’s pretty good and tastes a lot like Fanta (also owned by Coke).
Your comment about “flora” soda in Japan reminded me of something: Dr. Brown’s. It’s a local soda here in NYC, but I recall seeing it at upscale markets in various cities. The absolute black cherry soda ever! Yum!
However, in the “flora” category is their “Celray” flavor – you got it, celery flavored soda. Bleah! Not often seen even here in NY, and I only see REALLY old folks buying it, so perhaps with luck it’s dying out…
Falcon–
I still dream of Diet Apple Slice!
Does anyone know what happened to it?
Reed’s Extra Ginger Ginger Beer. When properly chilled this, to my mind, is the perfect drink for a hot, muggy day. The only problem is that I have to stop drinking halfway through the bottle so my mouth can stop tingling.
Does anybody remember a Mr. Wink Soda? It was a brand sold in Wisconsin when I was a Kid. It had a picture of a chubby faced guy on it, winking of coarse.
There is indeed a World of Coca-Cola museum in Las Vegas; it is next to the MGM Grand.
The original is in Atlanta, of course.
No one has mentioned IBC Root Beer yet?
Jones Soda is also sold all over Western Canada, to my knowledge. I always thought it was a semi-local thing here, too. Hmmmmm…
Is Fanta pop still available in the US? I haven’t seen it in years! When I was little there was a store/bottle depot in my neighbourhood called Pic-a-Pop. You’d get this case of 24 Pops that you would pick out from about 15 flavours, IIRC, and bring the bottles back the next time you got pop. They had the best lime pop in the world, ever!!!
BTW, my hubby works for one of the cola giants, and lime crush sells best in really godawful parts of town. He mentioned it to a store owner and the guy told him that “the girls” really liked it, “the girls” being the hookers outside. So, now you know - Lime crush is the preferred brand for prostitutes. I don’t even want to know why.
While we are on this clear beverage theme, please explain the Zima thing. It came out around the same time as Crystal Pepsi, and I figured it would also die a quick death. But five or six years later, it’s STILL HERE! Why??? In the name of God, Why?